Teachers go to summer camp

High school teachers in the area conduct experiments at St. Mary's University. Master teachers with the ASM Materials Education Foundation are traveling the nation to educate teachers.

Genevieve Cruz, a physics teacher at McCollum High (from left), and East Central High teacher Jennifer King get assistance from Gissel McDonald, a master teacher at Spring Hill High School in Kansas City.

Photo By San Antonio Express-News

Lornette Zatopek of San Antonio, a 7th and 8th grade teacher at St. George Episcopal High, pours molten metal at St. Mary's University on Tuesday, July 30, 2013. Master Teachers with the ASM Materials Education Foundation spend the summer traveling to teach high school teachers around the country about material sciences.

Photo By San Antonio Express-News

Nicole O'Grady of San Antonio, right, a biology and chemistry teacher at John Jay High does an experiment called "drawing a wire" at St. Mary's University on Tuesday, July 30, 2013. Master Teachers with the ASM Materials Education Foundation spend the summer traveling to teach high school teachers around the country about material sciences.

Photo By San Antonio Express-News

Nicole O'Grady of San Antonio, right, a biology and chemistry teacher at John Jay High, and Ann Lievrouw of Helotus, a chemistry teacher at Southwest High, do an experiment called "drawing a wire" at St. Mary's University on Tuesday, July 30, 2013. Master Teachers with the ASM Materials Education Foundation spend the summer traveling to teach high school teachers around the country about material sciences.

Carole Henry, 54, never thought she would enjoy teacher training as much as the ASM Materials Camp-Teachers.

“A lot of people choose to go to resorts to travel for their vacation,” the Southwest High School chemistry teacher said with a smile. “But science teachers choose to be in the lab. They choose to learn.”

The ASM Materials Camp-Teachers is a national program that trains high school and middle school teachers to improve the presentation of their science, technology, engineering and mathematics classes.

This past week in the camp, teachers learned about applying the properties of matter to various circumstances of science and engineering.

The program was free to the more than 20 teachers who participated from several local school districts.

It cost about $20,000 to run, most of it funded by the Air Force, said Winston Erevelles, dean of science, engineering and technology at St. Mary's.

“Part of what we're doing is, we're preparing these teachers to bring science to life in their classrooms, to bring a good solid dose of reality to their classrooms,” Erevelles said. “In turn, (students) are going to be a little bit more energized and excited about the materials that they're learning. ... They're going to understand how the theory that they learn ties into real life.”

The camp also provided the teachers with classroom supplies and a one-year membership with ASM International, a professional society for materials scientists and engineers.

Debbie Goodwin, a master high school teacher from Missouri, visited St. Mary's to lead the camp with two other master teachers. She said she loves what the camp promotes.

“We hope we fill a hole that we think is in the curriculum at the high school level,” Goodwin said. “Traditional chemistry teaches gases and liquids — we call it solution chemistry — test tube and beaker kind of stuff. The kids can't touch it. They can't take it home. It's not relatable to their everyday world as much. When we're dealing with metals, glass, plastic, ceramics. ... Those are things the kids can touch. It's so much more relatable.”

The teachers participating said they plan to bring the experiments back to their own classrooms in the upcoming year.

“After this, the kids won't say anymore, 'Uh, chemistry. That thing we've got to learn. Then we'll be over it.' No. They're going to say, 'Chemistry. It's in my life every day,' now,” Henry said. “I want school to start tomorrow. I shouldn't have wasted that time this summer planning what I was going to do next year because now it's all changed. I'm just so excited for the new year.”